Woman International Master Norm holder Michelle Catherina, a student of Good Shepard Convent, Chennai defeated Woman Grandmaster Savina Ananstasia of Russia in the third round of the SDAT-RAMCO 50th World Junior & Junior Girls Chess Championships 2011, at Chennai, here today. Michelle said, "I was a bit lucky today, as Savina blundered in a position that tilted the game in my favor".

Third seed Grandmaster Ivan Salgado Lopez of Spain, along with Italian Rombaldoni Axel and Polish Grandmaster Piorun Kacper led the field with 3.0 points after as many rounds.

Among other Indians the results were mixed. Maharashtra boy Vidit Santosh Gujrathi playing in the top board went down to Grandmaster Salgado Lopez Ivan, while Delhi based International Master Sahaj Grover was held to a draw by FIDE Master Nicolai Getz of Norway. Orissa lad Debashis Das held top seed Grandmaster Maxim Matlakov, snatching a second draw in three rounds from the Russian.

13 year old S L Narayanan studying in St.Thomas Residential School, Trivandrum stole the show defeating local favorite and Grandmaster Adhiban Baskaran in the second round of the SDAT-RAMCO 50th World Junior & Junior Girls Chess Championships 2011, at Chennai, here today.

The game started off in a Sicilian Najdorf and Narayanan managed to obtain equality out of the opening. Into the.queen, rook and minor piece ending, Adhiban overlooked an enterprising sacrifice from the Kerala boy. The 31st move of sacrificing a rook for the knight came as a positional blow for the Grandmaster, as the game wound up in favour of Narayanan 15 moves later. With 1.5 points from two rounds facing the Grandmasters, Narayanan has made a dream start, and is poised for another high rated opponent in the next round.

Another boy who made the big news was Mumbai youngster Aditya Udeshi who defeated Russian Grandmaster Shimanov Aleksandr (Elo 2586). The hero of yesterday, VAV Rajesh of India who held the top seed Russian Grandmaster Matlakov to a draw held Armenian Grandmaster Robert Hovhannisyan in 60 moves.

In the girls section, India's Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout and along with Andhra girl G Lasya led the pack of leaders with 2 points.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand, in his chief guest address said, "I won my world junior title after four attempts, but experience always helps in handling tougher situations. The Tamil Nadu Government has been a constant supporter to chess in the state and this time it has gone up one step up".

Chennai local player V A V Rajesh, a student of Loyola College, Chennai, brought the surprise in round 1, as he held top seed Russian Grandmaster Maxim Matlakov to a draw, in the first round of the SDAT- RAMCO 50th World Junior & 29th Junior Girls Chess Championships 2011 at Hotel Vijay Park.